Question Period Note: A CANADA-WIDE EARLY LEARNING AND CHILD CARE SYSTEM

Canadians need access to high-quality, affordable and flexible child care

• For Canadian families, high-quality, affordable child care is not a luxury—it’s a necessity.

• Budget 2021 announced a truly historic investment in early learning and child care – a total of up to $30 billion in new funding over 5 years.

• Over the next five years, the government will work with provinces and territories to make meaningful progress towards a system that works for families. The aforementioned federal funding would allow for:
o A 50 per cent reduction in average fees for regulated early learning and child care in all provinces outside of Quebec, to be delivered before or by the end of 2022.
o An average of $10 a day by 2025-26 for all regulated child care spaces in Canada

• Building on Canada’s Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework, co-developed with Indigenous partners in 2018, and the Fall Economic Statement, an investment of $2.5 billion over the next five years is also proposed for Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care.

Early Learning and Child Care:

The Government of Canada pledged in the Speech from the Throne and the 2020 Fall Economic Statement to make significant, long term, sustained investments to create a Canada-wide early learning and child care system. The Government of Canada is taking action on this pledge with Budget 2021.

Investing in early learning and child care offers a jobs-and-growth hat trick:
• it provides jobs for workers, the majority of whom are women;
• it enables parents, particularly mothers, to reach their full economic potential; and
• it creates a generation of engaged and well prepared young learners.

Budget 2021 proposes new investments totaling up to $30 billion over the next five years, with $8.3 billion ongoing for Early Learning and Child Care. Combined with previous investments announced since 2015, a minimum of $9.2 billion per year ongoing would be invested in child care, including for Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care.

As part of these investments we are proposing $34.5 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, and $3.5 million ongoing to strengthen the capacity of the new Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care.

The goal of these investments is to bring fees for regulated child care down to $10 per day on average within the next five years. By the end of 2022, the government is aiming to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in average fees for regulated early learning and child care to make it more affordable for families.

Budget 2021 makes a generational investment to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care system. This is a plan to drive economic growth, a plan to increase women’s participation in the workforce, and a plan to offer each child in Canada the best start in life.

• Budget 2021 proposes new investments totaling up to $30 billion over the next 5 years, and $8.3 billion ongoing for Early Learning and Child Care and Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care which includes:

o Establishing a Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care System with an investment of up to $27.2 billion over five years starting in 2021-22;

o Supporting accessible child are spaces for families that have children with disabilities by providing $29.2 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, through the Enabling Accessibility Fund;

o Strengthening the capacity of the new Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care established in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement with an additional $34.5 million over five years and $3.5 million ongoing to bring partners together to build and maintain a Canada-Wide Child Care system; and

o Addressing the Needs of Indigenous Families and Communities by building on the co-developed Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework and the 2020 Fall Economic Statement with a proposed investment of $2.5 billion over the next five years in Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care.

• This funding builds upon on existing investments from Budget 2017 and the Fall Economic Statement.